What are the most popular Broadway Theaters?

I got a lot of emails about last month’s “What The Tuck” blog and Broadway theater availability in general . . . which got me wondering . . . which Broadway Theaters are booked the most often?

Because if we’re facing an availability crisis then it would make sense that Producers should look at the theaters that are likely to be free, right? (Hmmmm, maybe “free” isn’t the right word.)

And at the same time, if a theater has a low occupancy, then perhaps the location, location, location of that specific theater isn’t prime for recoupment, recoupment, recoupment. Right?

So, I dove deep into the archives of the Playbill Vault and IBDB and counted up the number of days that theaters were booked vs. dark over the past 30 years (from January 1, 1983-May 1, 2013), and listed them below, in order of the “most popular.”

Before you look . . . guess. Go ahead. Guess which theaters you think have been the most booked, and which have been the least booked (oh – one note – I took out all the Non-Profit theaters, because, well, they have to book their theaters to stay in business).

Did you guess? No peeking!

Here’s the list of the most popular Broadway Theaters:

Theater Name

Occupancy Percentage

Winter Garden

96.49%

New Amsterdam

94.27%*Since theater re-opened in 1997

Imperial

87.42%

Majestic

83.45%

Gerald Schoenfeld

80.00%

Broadway

78.19%

Richard Rodgers

76.70%

Palace

76.53%

Foxwoods

74.55%*Since theater opened in 1997

Helen Hayes

74.25%

Eugene O’Neill

71.50%

Gershwin

71.27%

Al Hirschfeld

70.64%

August Wilson

70.54%

St. James

70.12%

Booth

68.19%

Minskoff

67.76%

Broadhurst

66.01%

Marquis

66.00%

Shubert

65.44%

Neil Simon

64.06%

Walter Kerr

63.23%

Bernard B. Jacobs

62.14%

John Golden

59.55%

Ambassador

58.92%

Ethel Barrymore

58.80%

Lunt-Fontanne

58.35%

Circle in the Square

57.67%

Brooks Atkinson

55.46%

Nederlander

54.59%

Music Box

52.27%

Cort

37.72%

Lyceum

37.18%

Longacre

27.38%

Belasco

26.21%

So, how’d you do? Did you guess right?

There’s a lot to derive from the data on this chart, but of course the most obvious bit is at the end:

Three of out of the last four occupied theaters are East of 7th Avenue.

Oh, and here’s the other thing . . . if this were a list of apartment buildings in New York City, the rent would be lower for the buildings towards the bottom, right?

Hint, hint. And you know who you are.

(Shout out to my Super Assistant, Kayla, and her Super Intern, Kate, for the hours compiling this super-duper data.)

UPDATE: Here are a few fun facts that we unearthed during our data digging:
-The only show in the past 30 years that ran longer than a year in the Longacre Theatre was the 2010 revival of La Cage Aux Folles
-The Majestic has had just 1 show and the Winter Garden has had just 2 shows since 1983
-Godspell was the 5th longest running show at Circle in the Square in the past 30 years
-The American Airline’s Theatre has had the most productions is the shortest span of time, 40 shows in 13 years
-In the past 30 years the theater with the most shows has been Circle in the Square with 51 shows
-12 theaters still have their original name

(Got a comment? I love ‘em, so comment below! Email Subscribers, click here then scroll down to say what’s on your mind!)

Jay

In an ideal world location (west of or east of Broadway) shouldn’t matter. If you have a good show that people want to see, they’ll go.

It would have been interesting to see what would have happened to Mamma Mia had it moved east to the Cort, Lyceum or Belasco – all Shubert Theatres and all who have housed musicals in recent memory – instead of to the Broadhurst, a fairly in-demand theatre.

Matt Kidd

Doesn’t your math here have more to do with theaters with long-running hit shows than theaters most popular with producers? The alternate might be better reflected by looking at how many shows in the same period have been in the house and what their avg run time was (to see if it is a house of flops).

Jeffrey

Bert Silverberg

The Longacre is hampered by having a second balcony, which producers strongly wish to avoid. The Shubert, of course, has a second balcony as well (saw “Matilda” from there this week, but the sightlines from there are good.

Noemi de la Puente

Paul L

Yeah, David & Lenore still hang out in that office at the top rear of the theater. Unless, of course, they were entertaining at the house David bought for Lenore on 75th St. between B’way & West End Ave.(South Side of the street, floor through Ballroom, I’m told.)…. Best

Don Rumgay Jr

Think this says more about the shows that have been in these theaters rather than their location. I wonder what the percentage for The Nederlander would be if you took RENT and Newsies out of the stats…As for The Belasco, tho haunted it may be, it is a beautiful old theater and one of my favorites.